Saudi Arabian detainee released from Guantanamo, over 140 still behind bars

A Saudi prisoner has been freed from Guantanamo Bay prison, becoming the 13th detainee to leave the US detention center in Cuba this year. Over 140 people remain behind bars despite severe criticism and President Obama’s vow to close the facility.

Having spent 12 years in Guantanamo, Muhammad al-Zahrani has been
sent back to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said in a statement.

In August 2002 al-Zahrani was captured and accused of
participating in military training and nearly joining al-Qaeda.
He was previously considered a "high risk" to American
interests.

This October a US government Periodic Review Board reconsidered
the necessity to keep him as a prisoner. After examining numerous
factors and al-Zahrani’s agreement to take part in rehabilitation
program, the Board cleared his release, ruling that he was no
longer dangerous to the US.

Appealing to the board, al-Zahrani’s lawyers said he
"desperately" wanted to return to Saudi Arabia and spend
time with his sick mother.

Al-Zahrani’s left Guantanamo this Friday.

"A total of 13 detainees have been transferred this year…This
strikes a responsible balance and…follows a rigorous process in
the interagency to review several items including security review
prior to any transfer," Paul Lewis, Special Envoy for
Guantanamo Detention Closure, said in a statement on Saturday.

Previously another five detainees - four Yemeni men and one
Tunisian – were freed from the prison complex, five years after
their release was cleared in 2009. They have now been sent to
Georgia and Slovakia, where they are supposed to get legal status
and right to work.

The US authorities plan to continue releasing detainees in
efforts to close the base in which 142 detainees are still being
kept.

The long-delayed closure of the Guantanamo prison has been a
vital issue for years, as it featured prominently in Obama’s 2008
campaign pledges. However, over the years, little has been done
to fulfil the plan.

In May 2013, President Barack Obama promised to begin letting go
prisoners who were cleared for release in January 2010. However,
since that promise made over 546 days ago, only 18 have been allowed to
leave.

Moreover, a hunger strike in 2013 attracted even more attention
to the detention facility. Over 200 days strike reached its peak
in July 2013, when more than two-thirds of Guantanamo’s 166
prisoners refused food as a way to protest their indefinite
detention. Human rights groups chastised the US for torturing and
force-feeding inmates.